Category: Celtic History & Lore

Cornwall has a rich, interesting, but much forgotten, history.

I like to research and understand what I draw as it helps me be more accurate.

Now that I’ve learned all those things, I thought you might enjoy knowing a snippet of history too.

(Artist note: I am building this web site myself and the images don’t always appear accurately. Please click on a button to go to the Shop and see the correct proportions of the stamps. Thank you)

Cornish Fun Facts

• Kernow is the native language name for Cornwall
• The Cornish language is of the same linguistic branch as Welsh and Breton but different
• The Kernowyon people are a Celtic group that pre-date Roman invasion
• Pheonicians sailed to Cornwall 5000 years ago to acquire copper and tin for forging bronze weapons
• Cornish mining has existed continuously until 2007, yet one mine may be opened again. Cornwall mined many different metals.
• Stone Wheal House (Cornish spelling not a typo) ruins of the old mines can still be seen
• Cornwall is famous for its Pasty (The Cornish never spell it pastie) a fully enclosed pie that was easy for miners to carry to work and eat
• The Cornish Saint Piran’s Flag is a white cross on a black background, and was integrated into the design of the Union Jack of the United Kingdom.
• Saint Piran is the patron saint of tin miners
• Cornwall is now famous for the TV programs Poldark and Doc Martin, especially Port Isaac and Bodmin Moor, yet The Pirates of Penzance pre-dates those
• King Arthur was said to be born in Tintagel Castle, and Camelot was in Cornwall
• It is one of the 7 Celtic nations: Brittany (Breizh), Cornwall (Kernow), Wales (Cymru), Scotland (Alba), Ireland (Éire) and the Isle of Man (Mannin or Ellan Vannin), and Galicia in Spain. Some might include the diaspora of the Celtic nations: USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

Cornwall Rubber Stamp Images

Pasty

The Cornish never spell their pie ‘pastie.’ This was the miners only lunch away from home. There were no bags, containers, refrigeration, ovens, break rooms, or eating implements in the mine. Women made a strong pastry, with a tight edge, to enclose meat and vegetables into a baked pie. The men would keep the pie inside their shirt next to their skin, while they worked, so it would be with them wherever they were, and warm at lunchtime. (I imagine it also had an unique salty, sweaty taste, too.)

Cousin Jack

Cousin Jack is the friendly, generic name to address a miner.
Candles were the source of illumination in the mines until the early 20th century. The hat helmet is felt. A wad of sticky pine tar holds the candle to the hat. The miner wears a “necklace” of the candles he will need to get through the day. The brim of the hat collects the dripping wax.

Wheelhouse Ruin

I drew this image from photos of Wheal Coates engine house and stack. The engine powered a huge wooden wheel that lowered miners and raised ore from the mine shaft. Stonework is all that’s left of these industrial complexes. However Wheal Trewavas is being restored by the National Trust. It is perched on a cliff in SW Cornwall, and the Project Manager is amazed that men could have built it 150 years ago without modern equipment since they are finding it especially challenging.

Mên-An-Tol (Holed Stone)

This stone arrangement is believed to be about 3,500 years old and of the Bronze Age. There may have been a full stone circle associated with it, since stones are detected underground in a circle around it.
Historians can only conjecture as to its significance, so I will leave you to investigate that further. What I do know is that the ancients lived with, and connected to, nature in every way. To carve a stone like this took a massive amount of effort, which means they believed it would help them connect with nature even more, whether it was health, fertility, spiritual, something else, or all of the above. Visually speaking, it is totally cool.

Tartan of Cornwall

Each colour in the National Tartan has a special meaning: White on Black for St. Piran’s Banner (The Patron Saint of Tinners), Black and Gold were the colours of the ancient Cornish kings; red is for the beak and legs of the Chough, the Cornish National bird and blue is for the sea surrounding Cornwall. The ancient kingdom of Cornwall is remembered in this tartan, designed by the Cornish poet, E.E. Morton-Nance. 1984 . He regarded tartan as the “heritage of all Celts” and extoll brave Cornishmen to wear the kilt of black and saffron, “Tints blazoned by her ancient Kings”.

8 Trading-Card-Size Designs to Inspire You

Cornwall is Celtic too!

I’ve created a lot of images for Scotland, Ireland and even Wales, but have neglected Cornwall and do apologize for this oversight. So now I’ve got some for you who have Cornish heritage, and for those of you who simply like this fascinating corner of the United Kingdom.

This post is about some of the stamping play I’ve been doing with the new group of Cornish theme stamps.
I hope you get some fun ideas here.

Miner’s Mainstay

The Pasty was a miners daily meal. Read the fun story in the newsletter or the next blog.
Miner is embossed with black, the Pastys with Distress ink, all masked, cosmetic sponges used to dab on Distress inks, remove masks

Mists of Time

Black embossing for the mine ruin, then dark gray Distress ink for the miner and pasty. I used cosmetic sponges to dab and swirl Distress inks to create a misty, ghostly effect.

Life Light

Using a reverse mask of the miner, I used a cosmetic sponge and white embossing ink rubbed onto dark blue cardstock, then heat-set the ink with NO embossing powder. Then I embossed with black powder the miner, being careful to wipe off the tip of the candle part of the image first. I created a little more of a cloud of light with the white ink, heat-set it, then used colored pencils to add to the effect. Black dye ink stroked on the bottom of the card adds depth.

Light of the Past

Cornish Holed Stone – Mên-an-Tol

All Trading Card size.
Starting with dark blue card stock, emboss the stones with clear ink and powder. The moon stamp is from Stampscapes. Then I simply used colored pencils to play with the lighting effects.
The third one is purple embossing ink and colored pencils.

Cornwall Collage

Just the holed stone of Mên-an-Tol with a mine ruin you can see to this day. Notice the tiny person to give it scale. Images embossed in black, then colored with pencils, finally mask the image and over-stamp with the Knot-work square.

Celtic Love Symbols for Weddings & A Craft Project For You
By Kathi Hennesey

As wedding season gets into full swing, future brides and grooms, along with their families, are busy planning their special day and looking for ways to make it unique and memorable. One popular and time-honored practice is to include symbols of family cultural heritage. And so the wedding day joins two people, celebrates their newly-shared ancestry, and strengthens the bonds between generations.

Our rubber stamps focus on Scottish, Irish and Welsh love symbols, so we want to share ways to incorporate using them for a wedding. The wonderful thing is that these expressions of love and affection can be used before, during and after the big day. As symbols of the new couple‘s bond, they‘re perfect for special occasion gifts and cards, such as anniversaries, birthdays, Valentine‘s Day, Christmas and baby showers.

Most readers here will be familiar with the popular symbols of the love bond used by these cultures for wedding ceremonies: The Scottish luckenbooth, the Irish claddagh and the Welsh love spoon.

Scottish Luckenbooth

The Scottish luckenbooth usually includes one or two hearts with a crown on top, and can include other embellishments such as a thistle. The tradition of the Scottish luckenbooth dates back to the 15th century, when these types of brooches – usually made of silver – were given as betrothal or wedding gifts, then pinned to the newborn children for protection.

Irish Claddagh

The Irish claddagh features a crown and a heart held by two hands. Legend tells us that the crown stands for loyalty, the heart for love, and the hands for friendship. The claddagh ring has been a traditional design for engagement and wedding rings, in Ireland, for generations. It continues to be extremely popular today.

Welsh Love Spoon

The Welsh love spoon, carved from wood, can include a variety of designs on the handle, including hearts, locks, crosses, bells, dragons, wheels and Celtic knotwork. It was traditionally given to a young woman by her suitor. The earliest known dated Welsh love spoon dates from 1667.

Knotwork Hearts

For a more universal Celtic-theme – and less specifically Scottish, Irish or Welsh – there are wonderful knotwork heart designs to symbolize unending love or the joining of two people in the love bond. The familiar symbol of the heart representing love and romance developed in 15th century Europe and its popular use with Celtic knotwork is a perfect marriage of designs.

Wedding Stationery

So with a few specific motifs in mind, we return to the idea of using them for a wedding. The perfect place to introduce a special love symbol is on stationery: the engagement announcements, then the wedding/shower invitations and save-the-date cards. Many couples choose to design and create these items themselves, or have them custom made with their unique symbol and added personalization. The Scottish luckenbooth, Irish claddagh, Welsh love spoon and Celtic knotwork hearts, with all their variations, are all beautiful and elegant designs for stationery and paper products.

Creative Ideas

For the big day itself, the possibilities are endless. From the guest book, to the décor, wedding favors and gifts, this is a place for creativity to shine.

Here are some places where Celtic, Scottish, Irish and Welsh love symbols can be used:

After the wedding, love symbols can continue the theme in wedding scrapbooks and memory books, thank-you cards and even anniversary gifts. Keepsake items from the wedding, such as toasting glasses engraved with love symbols, can be displayed in the newly-married couple’s home.

Just The Beginning

This article just scratches the surface, but hopefully it will provide a few ideas and some inspiration for anyone involved with an upcoming wedding. There’s no lack of wonderful websites with many more ideas and DIY projects that can be found through Internet searches. Pinterest is also a great place to browse for themed wedding boards and great visuals.

Let us end with an Irish wedding toast:

Here’s to you both, a beautiful pair
On the birthday of your love affair
Here’s to the husband and here’s to the wife
May yourselves be lovers for the rest of your life

The Celtic cross, as represented by the few remaining standing crosses in Ireland, flourished as a religious and art form during the early Middle Ages. During this time, Ireland slowly converted from druidism and other so-called “pagan” religions to Christianity, though the conversion was never complete. In fighting for the souls of the Irish, Christian authorities used a tried-and-true tactic: rather than forcing the locals to discard their religion, they assimilated it.
The Celtic cross is a cross superimposed on a circle (not, significantly, the other way around). The circle is thought to represent the sun, the object of many ancient religions; a representation such as is seen on the Celtic cross is called a nimbus. Though no writings survive that explicitly say it, it is thought that the cross-with-nimbus symbolized the acceptance of the old druidic religion (by showing the nimbus) but also its being eclipsed by the new Christian religion (since the nimbus is clearly behind the cross).
Of course, there was a simple practical advantage to this design as well: the circle served to buttress the cross’s horizontal arms. In fact, Celtic crosses without the nimbus usually did not survive long; weathering and age caused such crosses to lose their arms or heads.

The Art of the Celtic Cross

The intricate filigree-like carvings on the surface of Celtic crosses are of a style known as “insular art,” which literally means “art of the islands.” This style combined motifs from earlier runic art with intricate swirls and patterns to form a visually striking mosaic. This made the standing crosses very visually impressive, particularly in a hardscrabble medieval world where very few things were ornate, decorative, or beautiful for their own sake.
You can also see insular art in manuscripts such as the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels. If you study it closely, you might be struck by how abstract the art is; even when people are clearly depicted, they are not drawn in a factual style. The more important element is that such depictions be visually arresting.

The Viking Influence

The flourishing of insular art is thought to have been stifled by the Viking raids and invasions of the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries. At first, the invaders looted, killed, and took slaves, but later, they came back to stay; Dublin and Waterford, Ireland’s first two cities, were founded by the Vikings. They brought their own decorative styles and versions of Christianity with them, and the old Celtic/Druidic form of Christianity was supplanted.
Ireland during the early medieval period was not a unified country by any means; it was a collection of small, often mutually hostile kingdoms and chiefdoms. Thus, when the Viking raids came, first to the west coast and then to the rest of the island, there was no way to organize a unified force to resist them. The Vikings took home as loot many examples of insular art, such as manuscripts, metalwork, and wall hangings; very few such artifacts have survived, as the Vikings also usually destroyed what they could not carry back with them.
The development, both cultural and economic, of Ireland was retarded for centuries by the Vikings; many coastal settlements were abandoned after Viking raids. It was simply too much to painfully build up a small measure of wealth and prosperity and then see the fierce Viking warriors swoop in from the sea and take or destroy it all. Many Irish moved inland, out of the reach of the raiders.

The Stone Celtic Cross as the Symbol of Resurrection

Imagine that you are a poor farmer in a village on the east coast of Ireland. You have heard terrible stories about the Vikings but so far, they have never come to your village—until one fateful morning, a lookout screams “Longboats!” You gather up whatever you can carry and flee to the hills with your family—no one has the weapons to repel dozens of axe-wielding Viking raiders!

You watch from a safe distance as they methodically pillage your village, killing those who were unable to flee in time.
After the raiders are gone, you return to the smoking ruins of your house, which has been burned along with all the other homes in the village. All the livestock are gone, and the bodies of many of your neighbors are lying in the fields. The only thing intact is the stone church, which has been stripped of everything—but the Celtic cross still stands! You and the other survivors gather around it to pray, taking reassurance from its permanence and endurance.

The Irish-Roman-British Little Guy

OK, you’re thinking, he must be talking about the leprechaun. But I thought that the leprechaun was just plain ol’ Irish.

Well, not really. In the first place, the name is half Old Irish (lu, small) and half Latin (corp, body). Those Romans really got around.

The Shoemaker

You just want to make sure that you pronounce the word correctly, or a leprechaun may materialize and steal your shoes in retaliation (in Irish folklore, their profession is usually a shoemaker). Don’t be like those people who pronounce it “leper con,” which suggests someone you really don’t want to hang around with.

The Stereotype

The leprechaun actually showed up pretty late in the game in Irish folklore.

Like the shamrock, the leprechaun became a derogatory stereotype of the Irish for the 19th century British, who viewed themselves as far superior to the rest of the planet in general and the Irish in particular. Thus, the leprechaun’s fondness for practical jokes became a symbol of the Irish’s supposed guile and dishonesty; his hoarding of gold became a symbol of their miserliness; his humble occupation became a symbol of the general worthlessness of the Irish.

The Irish themselves never really cottoned to the leprechaun; his ubiquitous nature in our popular culture stems from British influences and media stereotyping.

The Trickster

Of course, just about every culture in human history has its version of the mischievous, magical creature who can appear and vanish at will. From Western European elves to Plains Indian Coyote Tricksters, the theme is always the same:

He’s a little guy who works by stealth and guile.

He’s smarter than you. A lot smarter.

He has a hidden stash, which you’ll never find no matter how hard you try.

He will occasionally get careless and you can capture him, in which case he’ll grant you a wish or wishes in exchange for his freedom. Good luck getting anything of actual value from him, though.
The leprechaun usually comes armed with the power to grant three wishes. Capture a leprechaun and tell him if he wants you to let him go, he’ll have to make you a millionaire. He’ll then hand you an Italian million-lira note. Use your second wish and tell him you want a million dollars. Fine; a locked chest magically appears in front of you. Exasperated, you use your third wish to demand the key to the chest. The key will break when you try to open the chest.

The Pot o’ Gold

The idea of the leprechaun holding the key to wealth, and the image of him having a pot of gold buried in the ground at the end of a rainbow, may have its origins in Roman times.

After the Romans abandoned the British Isles in the 5th century, they left behind a wealth of artifacts—including hoards of buried coins, which are still being discovered today. The average Roman didn’t have any way of preserving and protecting his wealth other than burying his coins on his property. People died, moved away, etc., leaving these stashes intact.
The leprechaun could show you where to dig to find these old coins. All you have to do is wait for a rainbow and then go to where the rainbow touches the ground and start digging. Of course, when you get there, you might find that the rainbow has moved…or disappeared…

The Green, or is it Red, Jacket?

You might be surprised to learn that prior to the 19th century, leprechauns were depicted in folklore as wearing red, not green. The great Irish poet William Butler Yeats helped to shift the image to a little guy with a red beard wearing a green jacket with seven buttons. This is the image we have in America today, down to and including Lucky Charms cereal and the statues in front of Fitzgerald’s casinos in Reno and Vegas (both defunct, sad to say). Specifically, the solitary fairies were supposed to wear green, while the “trooping fairies” wore red.

The Buckled Hat

An odd feature of the stereotypical leprechaun costume is the buckled hat. Such buckles were fashionable in the 17th and 18th centuries but by the time the leprechaun image really got going, were very much out of fashion. This may have been a way of negatively (again) portraying the Irish as old-fashioned and out of touch, much as American popular culture depicts the Puritans as wearing odd, tall, buckled hats, which they rarely if ever actually owned or wore.

The Tradition Today

So feel free to wear something green and have a pint of Guinness, but you should look a bit askance at the green-coated, red-bearded, buckle-hatted leprechaun on the barstool next to you—he’s just a British-American stereotype. But keep an eye on your shoes anyway.

The shamrock is one of the primary symbols of Ireland, the other being the Celtic harp. Like the thistle for Scotland, the leek for Wales, and the rose for England, it is a simple, common plant whose qualities are seen as symbolizing the country it represents.

Word Origin

The word “shamrock” is an English corruption of the Irish seamrog, which is the diminutive of seamair (clover). Thus, a shamrock is simply a little clover.

Saint Patrick

It is part of Irish Catholic legend that St. Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock as a visual metaphor for the Holy Trinity. However, the connection between St. Patrick and the clover was not depicted visually anywhere until a series of coins was minted in 1675 in Dublin showing him blessing a congregation while holding a shamrock in his hand.

Symbol of Ireland?

A large part of the identification of the clover as an Irish national symbol was, ironically, due to misperceptions and mistaken reporting by the British.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, poets and authors regularly wrote about how the “wild Irish” would eat anything in the case of famine, including shamrocks. (During this period, England was struggling to tighten its grip on Ireland; thus the English and the Irish had low opinions of one another due to the recent ongoing low-level warfare between the two countries, which had caused great suffering to the Irish and economic and political costs to the English). Since the shamrock has virtually no nutritional value, this was touted as an illustration of how savage (and stupid) the Irish were.

But it was again a case of misinterpretation. The Irish did regularly harvest and eat wild wood sorrel, or seamsog. British writers simply confused the two words, seamsog and seamrog. Thus, the reason that the British thought that shamrocks symbolized the Irish was that they believed the Irish ate them—something they basically never did.

Migration to America

So the shamrock became an Irish symbol more because the British thought it should be than that the Irish ever identified with it. However, it gradually became adopted by all Irishmen.

The shamrock migrated with the Irish to America during the Revolutionary War, when Irish recruits and conscripts were organized into regiments bearing the shamrock on their flags.

Luck of the Shamrock

Nowadays, the shamrock appears as a logo and symbol for diverse companies, and used in the manufacture of thousands of products.

The rare four-leaved shamrock (“four-leaved clover”) is considered a sign of great good luck to the person who finds one.

The much more common three-leaved shamrock is seen as symbolizing Ireland’s verdant beauty, the hardiness of its people, and their adherence to their religious values.

Wearing of the Leek?

One of the traditional ways that Welsh people celebrate their national pride on St. David’s Day is by wearing a leek. There are two intriguing tales from Welsh lore about this custom, one taking us all the way back to the 6th century.

A badge

The first story goes that soldiers of the ancient British king, Cadwaladyr, were about to fight their traditional enemy, the Saxons. Dewi Sant (St. David) advised the Welsh to wear a leek in order to recognize their fellow countrymen during the battle. Many have doubted this tale, as St. David and his followers lead a quiet monastic life, far away from such battle scenes; also, this legend wasn’t recorded until the 17th century.

A field of green

Another legend recounts the tale of brave Welsh archers who helped Edward the Black (the first English Prince of Wales) defeat the French in 1346. Because the archers fought in a field of leeks, this symbol became a reminder of their bravery and loyalty, and the Welsh began to wear a leek in their caps every St. David’s Day.

Ancient roots

It is very likely that the Welsh association with the leek predates St. David by hundreds and possibly thousands of years, to a pre-Christian time when Celtic people lived close to the land and had a deep affinity with trees, plants and other such aspects of Mother Nature. The leek may have had a special status with the Celtic tribes in the area we now know as Wales, although this is speculation.

One scenario is that the druids – who were priests, doctors, poets, teachers, minstrels, and human archives of ancient wisdom – shared and used their knowledge of the healing properties of the leek. Such qualities were alluded to in ancient holy books such as the Bible and the Torah, and leeks were depicted on ancient Egyptian wall carvings and drawings. They were even cultivated in ancient Mesopotamia.

The leek, with its reputation as a medicine to cure a variety of illnesses, would have been highly valued before the era of St. David. It was regarded as a cure for the common cold, alleviated the pains of childbirth and would later be used as a tasty, healthy ingredient in cawl, the traditional Welsh broth. It offered protection against wounds in battle and was supposed to help one keep away evil spirits. One of its benefits was to aid in foretelling the future; young maidens were to place a leek under their pillow at night to see the features of their future husbands.

The proud leek

So when you see this humble plant worn as a proud symbol of Welsh heritage, or see it as an emblem in a coin, flag or banner, you can appreciate its “Celtic connection” to an ancient past.

Researched and written by Kathi Hennesey, owner of Triskelt shops

Fun things to do ~ crafts, recipes

We found resources for cool activities to get you in the Welsh mood.
Check out these links:www.Wales.com for free PDF how-tos, recipes, and more

Castle pencil holder

Pom Pom Welsh Sheep

Paper Welsh Dragon

Paper Daffodil

Welsh Flag

Welsh Bunting

Welsh cakes

Bara brith

Welsh rarebit

lots more

Teachers and Crafters
Here is an United Kingdom site full of home-school activities for all year.

The amount of fun stuff here is amazing! And you don’t need to be a child to enjoy it all.

Scottish Clan Crest Badges

A Brief History and Meaning Behind the Images and Rubber Stamps

Going to a Games Event with your stamp?

“Clan” means Family, it’s that simple. All societies have clan groups, which may also be called tribe, family, house, kinship group, band, etc. In Scotland the clans were groups of families, bound together by geographical area and survival necessity for centuries.

As interest in genealogy and heritage has increased, so too has interest in knowing about family names and DNA. Many Scottish societies are accumulating DNA and historical family information related to clan groups. Knowing about your family bloodlines is interesting, gives you connection to more of the world, and can help you know how to maintain optimal health for you and your family.

A part of that connection is the Scottish Clan Crest Badge, which you may use to show your family ties to that clan.

When Scotland was a wild place with few roads and isolated valleys and islands, each district was its own clan society ruled by a clan chief. All the families living there were part of that clan, even when they had different bloodlines. Those with different bloodlines and surnames were known as “septs” of the ruling chief’s name.

Heraldry and heraldic art developed as chiefs created emblems for flags, banners, and insignia on apparel; so that when there was a dispute, or war between clans, the colors and emblems would help the combatants know who they were fighting for – and against. These emblems developed into a sophisticated art form. Eventually a registrar was developed for what became known as “Coat of Arms.”

Tartan also developed this way; and also because only certain plant dyes existed in specific areas. In-other-words, clans originally only had “district tartans;” clan tartans developed later.

Coat of Arms and the Badge

Only an individual has a coat of arms; which is a display awarded by the Lord Lyon, King of Arms, the official herald-in-chief for Scotland. No one may use another person’s coat of arms for themselves. Therefore, to show kinship with the same family as the Clan Chief they may use a crest badge emblem.

The crest badge is that part of the clan chief’s coat of arms above the helmet. The crest is placed inside a strap and buckle to make the pictorial statement “I support my chief.”

Over time, many clans lost having a chief due to death without heir. The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs resolved that crest badges should also include the words “An Cirean Ceann Cinnidh” to designate that there is a living, recognized chief for that clan. It means “Crest of the Chief of the Clan” in Gaelic. Please visit your clan’s or society’s web site for more information. († for pronunciation guide)

About the Rubber Stamps

Kim Victoria worked with Chiefs, presidents and other officials in the Scottish clan societies to ensure that all the crest badges follow the current recognized heraldic conventions. As new chiefs are recognized, their crest or mottoe of their coat of arms may be different than the previous chief and thus the crest badge must change also.

Some of the rubber stamp designs have, and some don’t have, the words “an cirean ceann cinnidh,” either because there is not a recognized chief, or because many stamps went into production before the resolution was made. You may request that the words be cut off of the stamp you purchase, or have a custom stamp made with the words if they are not currently available for your clan.

Kim Victoria has designed these crest badge images with rubber stamping in mind. The designs have been modified to display well in the smaller size and to reproduce beautifully with inks. Mounted on Eastern hard maple, and vulcanized from the best red rubber in the industry, by Circustamps of California. Custom stamps are polymer only, which is also an excellent stamping material.

If you do not see your clan name and want to have a stamp of that badge please see Custom Stamps Services for more information. Or got to my Etsy shop and start a conversation there. View page 4 of the Clan Badge listings to see the existing custom clans.

A bit of Valentine history

Valentine’s Day is possibly the most worldwide of celebrations: heart-shaped candies and flowers are exchanged on February 14th in the U.S., China, Brazil, Iran, and almost everywhere else on the planet. But originally, the observance had nothing to do with romantic love, and virtually nothing is known about the man—or men—after whom the day is named.

Multiple Saint Valentines?

There were several—perhaps dozens—of “Valentines” in early Christian history; it was a fairly common name in Imperial Rome. Many Valentines were Christians persecuted and martyred by Roman authorities, and the Church conflated their deeds, both real and imagined, in creating a composite “Saint Valentine.”

The two most likely actual candidates are Valentine of Interamna, who was consecrated a bishop in AD 197 and persecuted by Emperor Aurelian (this was before the Empire became officially Christian) and Valentine of Rome, who was murdered in AD 496.

Both saints were buried on the Via Flaminia, though in different places. Therefore, the proper way to state the Christian observance day was actually “Saint Valentines’ Day.” Many church frescoes and stained glasses depicted both saints. Almost nothing is known of their lives or deeds, however.

Sacrifice not love

Since both of the most prominent Valentines (and many of the others as well) had been martyred, the Feast of Saint Valentine was originally associated with sacrifice, not with romantic love. It first became associated with romance due to Chaucer, who mentioned it in Parliament of Fowles in 1382: “For this was on St. Valentine’s Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate.”

Other poets and storytellers gradually followed Chaucer’s lead and spoke of the day as the beginning of spring and the time when the birds came out and romantic love would flourish.

But it’s still winter

However, if you’re shoveling snow from your driveway after a blizzard on February 14th, you might be wondering just what the heck Chaucer was thinking.

The answer is that the Julian calendar was off—way off—by Chaucer’s time.
The Romans recognized that the year is not 365, but rather, 365 ¼ days long, and so invented the leap year—the signature feature of the Julian calendar. However…the year is actually twenty minutes shorter than 365.25 days—the Julian calendar made the year too long.

The result was that the start of spring (and all other fixed events) sneaked “backward” about three days every four centuries, so that thirteen centuries after the Julian calendar was introduced, in Chaucer’s time, spring was indeed coming—and the birds were mating—in mid-February.

Re-branding a saint

This brings us back to the Christian Saint Valentines. The Christian Church and religion spread rapidly worldwide in large part due to history’s first successful mass marketing campaigns, many of which involved what we call today “re-branding.” Recognizing that resistance to their new religion would be less if pagan cultural practices were incorporated into Christianity rather than having it replace them, Church authorities installed new, modern versions of Pagan holidays such as the winter solstice celebration (Christmas), “day of the dead” festivals (All Saint’s Day), and so forth.

Valentine’s Day evolved in part because another extremely common celebration in almost every society, then and now, is the “coming of spring.” The Romans had Lupercal, a several-days-long festival of drinking, dancing, and “making whoopee,” which was a perfect time to install a more Christian celebration.

From sacrificial mourning to celebrations of love

The thing is, when early Christian authorities decreed February 14th to be the day to revere Saint Valentine(s), the date was in winter—ideal for mourning and remembrance. It was only due to the creeping inaccuracy of the Julian calendar that by Chaucer’s time, the date was when the snow started melting and the birdies started singing. People began to regard the day as a marker of the coming of spring. (In 1582 Pope Gregory fixed the problem, but the British didn’t adopt the Gregorian Calendar until 1752.)

The Church, still skilled in re-branding, decided to respond to this (unstoppable) trend by making up some legends to associate one Valentine or the other with romantic love. The earlier Valentine, of Interamna, was now said to have performed secret marriages for Roman soldiers who had converted to Christianity (still highly illegal at the time). He was also purported to have cut out paper hearts as a token of affection for his friends, and he supposedly wore an amethyst ring (the February birthstone). He also cured a young girl, the daughter of his jailer, of blindness. All these legends, and more, were piled on well after the fact, however, by chroniclers ranging from the 8th-century Bede to 18th-century ecumenical councils.

Paper hearts

Valentine, or Valentines, proved to be a highly reusable and malleable symbol. When the Christian Church realized that they didn’t have a coming of spring celebration, they changed St. Valentine from a bishop who had had his head chopped off to a hopeless romantic who married people in secret and handed out paper hearts (a much happier celebration). Love was (officially) in the air!

Add to all that the remarkable greeting card industry that sprang up during the Victorian era and you have our modern version of Valentine’s Day.